Mourinho wants permission to pick weak team at Anfield April 22, 2014 CHELSEA manager Jose Mourinho says he will seek permission from senior figures at the club to field a “reserve” team in Sunday’s top of the table clash against Liverpool to maximise their chances of reaching the Champions League final just three days later. Following last night’s 0-0 draw with Atletico Madrid in their semifinal first [...]
Beaten Higgins fears for future April 22, 2014 SNOOKER: Four-time world champion John Higgins fears he can no longer regularly compete for top honours, following yesterday’s first-round exit to Alan McManus at the Crucible. Higgins, seeded 11th, lost 10-7 to his Scottish compatriot ranked 35th in the world. Higgins, 38, who has won just one ranking tournament in three seasons, said: “I’m maybe [...]
Injured Mirallas to miss season end April 22, 2014 FOOTBALL: Champions League-chasing Everton will be without forward Kevin Mirallas for their final three matches of the season due to a groin injury. The Belgium international limped off during Sunday’s 2-0 victory over Manchester United and will now miss games against Southampton, Manchester City and Hull. Mirallas is expected to be out for six weeks, [...]
Dawson announces retirement plan April 22, 2014 GOLF: Governing body the Royal and Ancient announced yesterday chief executive Peter Dawson would step down in September 2015 after 16 years in the role. Dawson will also relinquish his post as secretary of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews. The R&A is golf’s rulemaker outside of the United States.
Gosden can land third Investec Derby Trial in eight years with Marzocco April 22, 2014 BILL ESDAILE PREVIEWS THE ACTION ON INVESTEC DERBY TRIAL DAY AT EPSOM THE INVESTEC Epsom Derby dates back to 1780 and is the most prestigious race for three-year-old colts in the world. It’s also the richest race in the British calendar with a prize fund of £1.325m and the showpiece on Saturday 7 June is [...]
Exhibition of the decade so far April 21, 2014 ART HENRI MATISSE: THE CUT-OUTS Tate Modern Five Stars IT’S A moving story: a great painter whose health is failing him moves into the stage of life we usually associate with greyness and discovers colour. A 72-year-old Matisse was forced to lay down his brush after a cancer operation in 1941, but this led him [...]
Spider-Man entertains but fails to amaze April 21, 2014 FILM AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 Cert 12A Three Stars MARC Webb’s second installment of the re-booted Spider-Man franchise feels like a throwback to the super-hero movies of a decade ago – the first Hulk, Bryan Singer’s X-Men movies, Mark Steven Johnson’s Daredevil. It’s all spectacle, explosions and a dash of romance. It’s melodramatic rather than dark, [...]
No punch in Thompson and Brosnan rom-com April 21, 2014 FILM THE LOVE PUNCH Cert 12A Two Stars IT’S UNCLEAR why this film is called The Love Punch. The title is never mentioned, no one drinks any punch and it isn’t really about love. Richard (Pierce Brosnan) owns an investment firm that’s bankrupted by a dodgy, cackling Frenchman. Assets crippled, Richard rushes to ex-wife Kate [...]
Incest is best in this Cheek By Jowl production April 21, 2014 THEATRE ‘TIS PITY SHE’S A WHORE Barbican Four Stars CHEEK By Jowl’s production of John Ford’s 1633 play ‘Tis Pity She’s A Whore rips some of the flesh from the original but preserves its darkly beating heart. Condensed into an intense interval-less two hours, it’s a bloody collision of taboos lit up by a sparkling [...]
10-week fitness challenge | The get-fit diary of an out-of-shape office worker April 21, 2014 Steve is undertaking a 10 week “total body transformation” programme with No.1 Fitness, which involves four sessions at the gym a week, a strictly-controlled diet and absolutely no alcohol under any circumstances whatsoever (not even a little bit, just to take the edge off…). Here’s how it’s going: I’VE never been a fit man. I [...]